Welting for sewed boots and shoes.



H. LYON.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

Java/71,607 fzr ylyow w -w it: s.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY LYON, OF BROGKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 JOHN A. HARBOUR AND PERLEY'E. HARBOUR, FIRM DOING BUSINESS AS BROCKTON RAND COMPANY, OF

BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WELTING FOR SEWED BOOTS AND SHOES.

Patented Feb. 25,1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY LYON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Velting for Sewed Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a s ecification.

This invention re ates to leather welting used in sewed boots and shoes and particularly Goodyear and McKay sewed work. In welting of this character, the grain surface of the leather forms the outer or exposed surface of the welt, this surface being more firm and dense than the opposite or flesh surface and capable of receiving a dcsirable finish. The firmness and density of the grain surface renders the welt less flexible and pliable than is desirable,particularly at points where the welt is bent edgewise, as at the toe portion of the boot or shoe.

My invention has for itsobject, first, to increase the flexibility of the grain surface of leather welting, and secondly, to facilitate the operation of ornamenting the grain surface by the formation of transverse grooves therein by a rotary indenting tool which when rolled over the exposed surface of the welt forms a series of parallel indentations therein.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim. 7

Of the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a welt strip embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents an edge view showing the strip bent sidewise. Fig. 3 represents a side view showing the strip bent edgewise. Fig. 4 represents an edge View showing the manner of ornamenting the welt after its incorporation into a boot or shoe.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In carrying out my invention I form in the grain surface of a leather welt strip a' a series of transverse grooves b which are formed by cutting out narrow portions of .the grain surface, the grooves extending continuously from edge to edge of the strip and leaving narrow ortions of the grain surface in the form 0 transverse ridges between the grooves. The grooves may be formed by any suitable cutting or gouging tool which is adapted to remove narrow pieces of the material, or to otherwise form the grooves 12 by removing the material from the grooves.

A welt strip having portions of its grain surface removed to form transverse grooves, as shown, is rendered more flexible than an ordinary welt strip, the grain surface of which is continuous, the strip being adapted to be freely bent sidewise, as indicated by Fig. 2, to adapt its sides to the curvatures of the outer sole, and edgewise, as shown by Fig. 3, to adapt its edges to abrupt curves such as those at the curved toe portion of the outer sole.

The grooves are preferably proportioned and spaced to correspond to the grooves or indentations usually formed. in the exposed side of a welt by an indenting tool after the welt hasbcen' secured to the outer sole, the

indenting tool being usually a ribbed or fluted roll 0 which is in rolling contact with the exposed side of the welt. Such tool has heretofore been employed to force portions of the grain side of the welt inwardly and thus form indentations, no portions of the grain surface being removed.

The usual indenting o eration requires several passages of the in enting tool over the welt to form indentations of the desired depth in the grain surface. By employing an indenting tool 0 the ribs of which are adapted to coincide with the grooves Z) I am able to insure the formation of grooves of the desired depth by a single passage of the indenting tool over the welt, the ribs of the indenting tool entering'the grooves b and compressing the material constituting the bottoms of said grooves so that they are desirably dense and firm and correspond in density with the intermediate portions of the grain surface between the roaves. The

exposed side of the welt there ore, does not 7 side being composed in part of the original face, the grooves being separated by narrow 1o grain surface and in partof the compact intermediate grain surface portions.

bottoms of the grooves.

I claim A leather welt strip having one of its sides formed by the grain surface of the leather, and providedwith transverse grooves extendin from edge to edge and formed by removlng narrow portions of the grain sur- In testimony whereof I have affixed my slgnature, in presence oftwo wltnesses.

HARRY LYON.

Witnesses EDWARD B. SMITH, HARRY J. HISTEN. 

